Learn › Using TickerRisk · Jun 2026 · 2 min read
What Is Edge Score? Finding the Best Premium-Selling Setups
High IV Rank says options are expensive. But expensive is often expensive for a reason. Edge Score is the one number that tries to separate the two.
The premium seller's dilemma
If you sell options, you want high IV Rank — rich premium, mean reversion on your side. But the stocks with the highest IV Rank are frequently the ones with the most danger priced in: an earnings report, a lawsuit, an FDA decision, a meme-stock frenzy. Chase IV Rank blindly and you'll keep selling premium straight into landmines.
So the real question isn't "where is premium expensive?" It's "where is premium expensive without a matching pile of risk?" That's the gap Edge Score measures.
What Edge Score is
Edge Score = IV Rank − Risk Score
Both inputs are 0–100. IV Rank rewards expensive options; the risk score penalises known hazards — upcoming earnings, recent legal filings, SEC events, clinical-trial catalysts and unusual volatility. Subtract one from the other and you get a single number that's high only when premium is rich and the obvious risks are low.
- High positive Edge — expensive options, low risk. The cleanest premium-selling conditions.
- Around zero — premium is roughly fair for the risk; no real edge.
- Negative Edge — risk outweighs the premium on offer. The market is paying you for danger, not opportunity.
A worked example
Two stocks both show IV Rank 75 — equally "expensive." Stock A reports earnings in four days; its risk score is 80, so its Edge is −5: you're being paid for an earnings gamble. Stock B has no catalyst for six weeks; its risk score is 20, so its Edge is +55: genuinely rich premium with little obvious danger. Same IV Rank, opposite trades. Edge Score is what tells them apart at a glance.
How to use it
Edge Score is a filter, not a trade signal. A high Edge Score means "worth a closer look for a premium-selling strategy," not "sell this blindly." You still confirm the chart, liquidity, your strikes and position size. But it turns a 500-stock universe into a short, ranked shortlist of the most favourable setups right now.
The caveats
No score captures everything. Edge Score won't know about a surprise news event, and "low known risk" is not "no risk." It's a starting point that does the tedious cross-referencing for you — pairing volatility with catalysts — so you spend your time on the handful of names that deserve it.
Where to find it
Edge Score is on every TickerRisk scan; the best-edge screener ranks the whole S&P 500 by it, and the Wheel scanner surfaces the top sell-premium candidates. You can recompute it for any horizon (1 week to a year), since risk shifts as catalysts move in and out of your window.
Scan any S&P 500 ticker for risk, IV Rank & options signals — no login required. Or use the scan box at the top of this page.
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